Bedwas Rocks is music to eyes and ears

4:56pm Saturday 14th June 2014

ONE OF Caerphilly’s newest and most ambitious music festivals attracted thousands of visitors this weekend as it aimed to raise money for a local charity.

The annual Bedwas Rocks, which started yesterday and finishes later tonight, featured a fun run billed as “the brightest 5k run Wales has ever seen”. The event, blessed with beautiful summer sunshine, saw entrants – kitted out with protective eye wear - showered with brightly coloured powdered paint at each kilometre.

With sponsorship raised in aid of St David’s Hospice Care, this morning’s Color Run reached its limit of 250 within a couple of weeks of being announced and was a major opening attraction for this year’s festival.

The second annual Bedwas Rugby Club fundraiser offers local music and a family-orientated weekend with a wide range of attractions including a climbing wall, surfing machine, bouncy castle, archery and a magician.

The WRU hosted workshops to help youngsters improve their game, while the 157 (Welsh) Regiment set up a giant inflatable army assault course. Caerphilly Fire Station brought along a fire engine and sponsor GE Aviation organised a treasure hunt.

Ron Davies, Bedwas RFC’s commercial manager, said: “This is a unique music festival. Not only is there music across a variety of genres, there are exciting activities for the whole family.

“It raises the profile of the club within our community and brings in money for a distinguished charity. This year, we decided that St David’s Hospice, with its outstanding track record of support for local people, was the ideal choice.”

St David’s community and events fundraiser, Franca Nigro, said the charity wanted to keep its events fresh and exciting for supporters and after seeing the Color Run taking place in other places in the UK, thought it was time it came to Wales.

She said: “Since launching the event back in February, we have been overwhelmed with enquiries and entries - so much so that we reached our capacity a month prior to the event, which is unheard of.

“St David’s are extremely grateful to Bedwas RFC for their support and very excited about hosting the Color Run alongside the Bedwas Rocks Festival. It’s a wonderful opportunity to bring communities together and enjoy a fantastic family event.”

Following this morning’s Color Run, eight hours of continuous live will feature sets from a Stereophonics tribute band and The Kamikazee Millionaires from Ebbw Vale.

A giant canopy has also been installed by the club following funding of £30,600 from the EU-backed South East Wales Community Economic Development (SEWCED) programme and Caerphilly council's Community Regeneration Fund.

Mr Davies added: “We are delighted that Bedwas RFC is able to offer first class facilities, improved with a splendid new spectator canopy part-financed by SEWCED, which ideally meet the needs of hosting a run such as this.”